Time Together
by Oneturtledove
Summary: It's the little moments, weaved into our lives.


Disclaimer: They are not mine, but I really would pay money for a guy/girl friendship like M&S have. Aw babies….

Spoilers: None

A/N: Okay. So I have this idea for a story that will kind of end up being a juxtapose of this one, but they also stand alone from each other. They will have similar titles though, so anyway. That's aaaaaaaaalllllllll I know.

* * *

"Scully, it's me."

"Hey, Mulder."

"Hi. What are you doing today?"

"Nothing in particular. Why?"

She could almost hear his shrug over the phone.

"Just wondering."

"Okay. What you are doing today?"

"Nothing, really."

There was a beat of silence.

"Mulder, did you want something?"

"I just though that… maybe… you've been at Quantico for two weeks. I haven't seen you. I miss you."

She smiled a little, knowing her voice would give away the fact that she had been missing him too. It was the little everyday things that she missed. The days in the office working on reports. Getting to a stopping point at the same time and looking up find that he was looking at her too. Hearing him say "good morning" and "goodnight." Just being in his presence all day long. Being comfortable in that. Working at Quantico, she didn't have that comfort. She was alone. Sure, people were friendly, but she didn't have that connection with them.

"Scully?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear anything I said?"

"After you said you miss me?"

"Yes."

"Sorry, my mind kind of took off."

"That's okay."

"I miss you too, Mulder. I didn't think that was possible."

"Me neither. Learn something new every day."

"Guess so."

"I thought that maybe we could do something today. Go have lunch or go to a movie or something."

"That sounds good. Want me to meet you somewhere?"

"I'll come and get you. Noon?"

"I'll be ready."

They hung up without saying goodbye, and she leaned back against the couch with a smile. Spending a day with Mulder, especially one outside of work would be just what the doctor ordered.

* * *

The knock on her door came at two minutes to noon. Being on time was a new thing for Mulder. Being early, well that was just plain strange. She opened the door, and was glad to find him in casual clothes. Her favorite casual clothes no less.

"Hey. Ready?"

"Yep. Where are we going?"

"To lunch."

"I know, but where?"

"Wherever is open?"

"Mulder…"

"I thought we could get something at Alvin's and then go to the park."

"You mean we could eat burgers outside while we people watch?"

"That's exactly what I mean."

"You're the best partner ever."

"I try."

She chuckled and closed the door behind them, suppressing the shiver that ran up her spine as his hand connected with her back. She was so used to it, but every once in a while, when the situation didn't call for it, or when she wasn't expecting it, she felt the initial surge of connection that she had felt so long ago. A lifetime.

The got into the car and rolled down the windows. It had been a long winter, but it was warming up nicely; the perfect day to eat outside.

"So how did that case end up?"

"We caught the bad guy."

He spared her the sordid details. She didn't need to hear about the depravity he'd had to deal with in the past few weeks. He hated working without her, but he was glad that the images that were haunting him weren't haunting her too. He hated dragging her to places that would only become black holes in her memory.

"Any promising young agents out at Quantico?"

"Maybe a few. I wouldn't want to break them in, but five years down the road they wouldn't be so bad."

"No Peyton Ritters?"

"Oh, they all have the ambition, the drive, the arrogance. Wait until they get stuck on some horrible case and we'll see who can hack it."

"Throw them in and let them swim, huh Scully?"

"I don't play nice."

"Yeah, I know."

She reached over and swatted his leg.

"I already know, Scully. I didn't need a demonstration."

"I was just reinforcing what you said."

"I'm going to have a hand bruise."

"Oh you are not."

He smiled and turned the car into the parking lot at their favorite sandwich place.

"You know, with a backhand like that, you could join up with the William's sisters and become a trio."

The look she gave him rivaled the one she'd made when he'd suggested she find a boyfriend among the lumberjacks.

* * *

"What movie makes you cry?"

Scully arched her eyebrow and looked over at Mulder. He was lying back on the grass, his legs crossed at the ankles, eating a popsicle and staring up at the sky thoughtfully.

"What kind of a question is that?"

"A good one."

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Why not? We tell each other everything else."

"Yeah, that's kind of true. But this? I don't know Mulder."

He glanced over at her to make sure she was just joking. A tiny smile played at her lips as she turned to meet his eyes.

"Fine. _Gone With the Wind_. Happy?"

"Yes."

"Great. Now what movie makes you cry?"

"I don't cry, Scully."

"Oh yeah right."

"Nope. Not at movies."

"_Old Yeller_?"

"Nope."

"_Top Gun_?"

"Nope."

"_Hoosiers_?"

"Nope."

"_Riding the bus with my sister_?"

"Guess what? Nope."

"I give up. What is it?"

"Nothing."

"You're mean. I admitted mine."

He sighed and finished the blue popsicle, bending the stick in half before finally turning to her with his answer.

"_The Wizard of Oz._"

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Why?'

"I don't know."

"Hmm."

"What did you want to be when you grew up?"

"Well, when I was three I wanted to be an old lady, because they have the best cookies."

"That doesn't surprise me about you."

"When I was five I wanted to be a swimming instructor because I thought that you could really live in a bathing suit. Then when I was eight, I wanted to be a veterinarian, at twelve I wanted to be an actress, at fifteen I wanted to be a flight attendant, and at sixteen I wanted to be a trauma counselor."

"When did you decide to be a doctor?"

"I didn't, really. It just sort of happened."

"Med-school and a residency just sort of happened?"

"I didn't mean it like that. When I went to college, I had every intention of being a trauma counselor. I ended up liking my medical courses more. They made more sense to me, had more definite answers. Yeah, medicine isn't an exact science, and as we discover more, it gets less and less stable. But I needed that logic and that black and white. I didn't think I could make career out of hunches and opinions and guessing. Educated guessing, but guessing none the less because no one is a mind reader."

She chuffed out a wry laugh and looked at him.

"And then I left medicine for a job where everything is about hunches and opinions and guessing. Educated guessing, but guessing none the less because someone may actually be a mind reader."

"I knew you were going to say that."

"Mulder, shut up."

* * *

"Do you have any fives?"

"Go fish."

"Scully, you haven't had anything I've asked for in the past five hands!"

"I'm not Santa Claus, Mulder."

"Okay, I could assume that it was just a coincidence, but you have gotten like 7 cards from me in the last two turns. I hate this game."

"You're just jealous that I already won."

"I think you cheated."

"I did not cheat!"

"Let me see those cards."

"You don't trust me?"

"Not when it comes to something as important as this. Give me those cards."

"No."

"Dana Katherine Scully…"

"What?" she asked, a little grin spreading across her face.

"Give me those cards."

She knew that smile. That playful, mischievous, slightly unpredictable smile. It turned up more on the right side of his mouth than it did on the left, and reached all the way up to his eyes. She loved that smile. She knew what was coming. She knew exactly what he was going to do next; she could read it in his eyes. But she did nothing to stave off the attack.

He reached over and grabbed her wrists, using his other hand to grab at the cards. She managed to pull away and curled up into a little ball, her body a shield around the cards.

"Gimme those!"

"Never!"

She felt his hand on her side and knew it was over. She was way too ticklish to be able to last for much longer.

"Okay, I give, I give!"

She relinquished the cards to him with a tiny laugh.

"Now who's the one cheating? You know how ticklish I am."

"Yes, I do. You should have kept that fact a secret and I would never have known. Ever read _The Art of War_?"

"Why are you so mean to me?" she asked, noticing for the first time that she was pinned down to the carpet.

"Because."

"Mulder?"

"Yeah?"

"Get offa me."

He rolled off to the side, his feet staying tangled with hers.

"Scully?"

"Yeah?"

"We should do this more often."

"Play cards?"

"No. Spend time together. Outside of work. Just be friends."

"That would be nice. Especially when we don't work together."

He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I don't like working without you."

"Me neither. Even those days when we're just stuck in the office, I like having you right there."

He nodded.

"Do you think this co-dependency is unhealthy?"

"I think it's just healthy enough."

* * *

An hour later, they were still laying on the floor, talking softly and listening to the spring rain storm outside. They had the windows open, and could just barely hear the thunder cracking in the distance. It was a warm peace that filled the room, the one that they always carried with them, but were rarely afforded the opportunity to enjoy. It was comfortable, even in the moments when neither one of them could think of anything to say, because anything of consequence had already been said, hundreds of times over. They spoke of nonsensical things, the gaps between each topic getting longer and longer, both of them resting in their separate thoughts, that were actually quite similar. It was the kind of harmony they had always felt in their partnership, but this was the first time it had manifested in such an obvious yet tranquil way.

Each word was a caress, soft on their souls. Each moment was a tie that bound them together irrevocably. There would never be another moment like this, together or apart. It was just a snippet of history, fused into their story. And there was no changing history.


End file.
